WHY A FOSTER PANTRY

It is sad to say but in our community, we have over 450+ kids in custody with more coming in every week. Due to our current opioid epidemic, that number is only increasing with no signs of changing in the near future. The majority of children in need of foster care come from impoverished and
potentially hostile environments. Whenever a social worker goes to obtain custody of a child, his/her job is to enter the residence, locate the child, leave, and to do so quickly and without confrontation. During this process, the social worker is allotted a very brief amount of time to gather the child’s belongings and other supplies.

As a result, it is not uncommon for an incoming child to have hardly any supplies, maybe a garbage bag half-full of whatever the social worker could salvage, or sometimes, absolutely nothing. Of course, there isn’t anything the social worker can do about this, we acknowledge that, but because of these moments we saw an opportunity to fill a need, to come alongside and help our community. For the age-old saying is true, “it takes a village”

At the Foster Pantry, we’ve made it our mission to ensure that foster parents in our community are prepared for when they get the call. Our goal is to facilitate the process of gathering childcare supplies, by eliminating the chaotic, last minute trip to the store.